Year 10 Formal

So last night, as you may well know if you read last night's scheduled post (I know, I was organised for once. Hooray!), was my Year 10 Formal. To put it simply, it was AWESOME! There was so much work that went into it and it all payed off in the end as everyone I spoke to had a great time. Even one of my friends who is always a bit on the Mr Negativity side of things and came to the night thinking it was a waste of time came up to me and said that he was wrong and this is fantastic. I guess fantastic really does describe it as the atmosphere itself was just fantastic. It was held at Waterfront Venus Docklands in Melbourne and it had the best view over the harbour and over past Etihad Stadium. It was wonderful and I would really like to thank the venue staff for making the night so memorable.

Source: http://thecontrolleronline.com/2012/10/007-legends-review/

As you may have worked out from the picture the theme was James Bond. This was more in the way of decorations rather than actual dress theme which made it even better as everyone looked different. There was a lot of work also that went into the night which included Year 10 class captain meetings and surveys to ensure we could cater to as wide an audience as possible. In the end we had 167 (out of 200) Year 10 Students come plus around ten or so teachers. There was also a free photo booth (photos printed on the spot and put on Facebook for free), a roaming photographer (photos free and on Facebook) and a set photo point with a backdrop with prints costing $10 but it was all worth it. People really got into the night and came dressed to impress and some people were very hard to recognise because they looked so different in such a good way. I was lucky enough to arrive early to help set up so I could see the sunset over the harbour as I was placing seating arrangements. We were expecting people to come a bit later than 7pm but at around ten to there was already a large crowd waiting outside to come in but they were not allowed until 7pm. However, many of us had already been there since 6pm setting up so we were all ready and basically we were waiting on both sides of the door. It was such a great opportunity and something to be a part of. We danced (by dancing I mean jumped up and down with the beat and everybody else), socialised, ate, drunk, took plenty of pictures and had a damn good time. When it was time to leave I just did not want to go.

This formal was definitely something I will remember for years to come, see you tomorrow!

Assignments and Due Dates

Whenever there is an assignment or something due on a certain date there are always people who struggle to stick to these dates. This even occurs when we get an exceptionally long period to compete the task. Even on the day there are still some people who struggle to stick to these constraints. You can always tell when an assignment or something is due the next day because the class Facebook group suddenly becomes very active as everyone leaves it to the last minute with no hope for completion. It is also annoying as even though teachers always threaten consequences for not adhering to deadlines they remain only threats. It just makes it so unfair for the students who put in the effort and handed it in on time. Tomorrow we have a science prac report due on an experiment we conducted and currently the Facebook group is being hit by a storm of people starting their reports too late and getting stuck. I came to write this just to get away from it all. These people will struggle through VCE and University when deadlines are much stricter and if you do not hand it in on time you fail.

Just get organised, see you tomorrow!

Sorry for another short post today!

Performances

Performances are hard for most people. There are, of course, quite a number of people who are completely at ease with performance but then they are the lucky ones. They are the ones that we all want to be yet still wish we were somewhere else. Something about public performances just makes people feel nervous. I guess that brings us all back to one of man's greatest fears. That is the fear of being judged by other people. Psychologists have shown that this is one of our greater fears so much though that it can turn the bravest of us into nervous wrecks.

Image Source: http://www.macanxiety.com/information-about-anxiety-disorders/social-phobia/

There are many different types of performances out there which can have a diverse range of effects on the performer. For example, tonight I had a piano performance for the Music Society of Victoria (MSV) which went really well. The thing with me is that when I practice at home I make all these mistakes, especially right before a performance. However, when I play it in front of a crowd it is played almost perfectly. This even happens to me during my Piano Exams and is part of the reason as to why I get such good grades. I stress out before hand and make heaps of mistakes in practice. When I go to perform it is as if I never made a mistake in practice. That is just one of my reactions to public performances. Some people have the exact opposite reaction and play it perfectly alone yet choke when they come to performances. I am just one of the lucky ones although I do become a nervous wreck. Then there are the people who need absolutely no practice for their performance (musically or otherwise) and yet still perform perfectly. I guess they are just the lucky ones.

Practice generally makes perfect, see you tomorrow!

Cranky

There are a lot of people, places and things in our life that can make us cranky. The thing is, we are all different and so react in a myriad of ways. Some times our reactions are slow and drawn out while other times it is short and sharp. We can never truly know when our inner crankiness will be unleashed but we can generally feel it coming on. We all just get a little annoyed at everything and what we would normally forgive gets blown out to epic proportions. I guess the best we can do is keep moving on and past the experiences that ruin our moods.

I wrote earlier that we all get cranky from different sources. Some people get cranky when they are hungry. This is often referred to as being 'hangry'. Basically whenever you feel hungry you also have feelings of anger and your tolerance is virtually non-existent. This is very similar to the more common tired cranky which is basically the same as being 'hangry' except instead of feelings of hunger there is fatigue. This is the type of cranky I experience. Throughout the day I contain myself and any outbursts are all jokes and not serious. Despite how annoying some people can be I just soldier on and contain myself. However, this also means that when I get home my patience is virtually non-existent (except where Sandy is involved) and you do not want to cross me when I am in one of those moods. Like the Hulk, you would not like me when I am angry. So you see there are different types of cranky and each one is different for each person.

If you feel yourself close to an outburst, try to remove yourself from the situation. See you tomorrow!

Frustrations

There are just so many things that frustrate us in the world of today. Some of them are things we have no control over while some of them we do have some control but still do nothing about. We are all unique in this way as we all have different frustrations and different issues. Some of these are trivial, some are concerning while others are just plain frustrating (well, duh). First off, writing these introductions are frustrating. However they are also necessary because if I just started straight into what I was doing people would have no idea what was going on until halfway through. So you see, not all frustrations are unnecessary and without reason. I guess today's post will just be me venting my frustrations on a few things, some of which do not really concern me directly but are still frustrating.

Image Source: http://bloviatingzeppelin.net/tags/technology-frustration

My first frustration is how I am doing homework nearly every single night and yet my brother can get through a whole week doing barely an hour. The worst part is he is doing VCE! All he does is come home and watch television. I mean, he went through three seasons of King of Queens in a week! On top of that he has work and CFA so it is just so unfair. Then he comes in and annoys me when I am trying to do my homework and I am only doing one VCE subject this year. He is in year 12!! It is just so frustrating. I rarely have time other than the weekend to watch a DVD and if I do watch television I will be on my laptop while doing it or just watching some of the shows on free to air television. Here is one that does not actually involve me but is actually frustrating. Every afternoon after school now the bus that goes past the station and starts at our school is always so packed of people that some times the bus driver has to stop people getting on. This is incredibly frustrating as generally there are only a few who actually use that route to get home while the rest are just lazy and can not be bothered to walk the distance which is not even one kilometre and can be done in under ten minutes. Like I said, they are just really lazy. It also means that the people who actually do have to use that bus to get home are the ones that miss out because of the selfish majority. It is just so frustrating! They were just two examples of things that frustrate me but I will not go on otherwise, again, this blog will be made into one where you have to show your age before entering.

Don't let the frustrations get you down, just take deep breaths and stay calm, see you tomorrow!

Study Distractions

We have all experienced distractions. We all know how annoying they can be and how destructive they are to our planned events. For someone to be always able to study without experiencing any distractions is to be very lucky. It is no easy task being able to sit down and study for an extended period of time without being distracted a few times. It is incredibly frustrating and so I have decided to compile a list of sorts that contains certain things I find distracting when I am trying to study. Chances are that you guys have experienced at least one of these and if you have not then I envy you. Oh, do I envy you...

Image Source: http://studysuccess.org/

The first, and main, distraction I come across while trying to study is people. Have you ever tried studying with your friends? It is really hard to do it well when every few seconds you start talking about something else or going out on a tangent that is in no way related to what you are trying to focus on. Sometimes you end up spending half the time studying and half the time socialising. Of course, this is not a bad thing but it can be very distracting and frustrating afterwards. Having people watching you while you are trying to study is also very distracting. Suddenly you become very self-conscious and think twice about every move you make. Suddenly a task that should have taken only forty minutes goes on for an hour. You can see why I do not like people staring over my shoulder when I am trying to just get my work done. Electronics is another major distraction. This is especially annoying when you are on your laptop researching something and  you just say to yourself that you will spend ten minutes on Facebook for a break. However, this break tends to stretch into time periods that are much longer than previously intended which is why I like just going in and getting things done. That way there is less chance of me being distracted while on breaks. Then there are the background sounds like television or radio that distracts you and all you can think about is storming down there and switching the offending article off. This happens way too often to me and as you can see, even this Blog can be distracting. The above list is but some of what distracts me and there is a lot more but I will not list them all here as it would be very long.

Don't let distractions stop you from studying and never take breaks on Facebook or technology, see you tomorrow.

Another Late Post

So today is yet another late post. As I am typing this on my phone it will not be as long and, of course, will not include pictures. As it is late I thought I would just update you guys on what has been going on for me recently. It has been a while since I have done one of these but from my previous posts you may have gleaned a bit of an insight into what I've been up to.

As you may have realised from my previous post on Acronyms I am currently part of a recruit course for my local CFA as I was in juniors but once you turn 16 you can become a full-firefighter. I started this just before the holidays finished but there is still a long way to go yet. Just a warning that if you do want to become a firefighter there is a lot of theory to cover including tests. In other news, on Monday it is the start of LOTE week at my school and at lunchtime there is a house captain cook off. Apparently though this is just decorating something though which is lucky otherwise they would have had a burnt entry. Nothing much else has happened really so I do not have that much to tell.

Don't let the mundane get you down, see you tomorrow!

Acronyms

There are just way too many acronyms out there it just really becomes annoying. There are also abbreviations which are also so plentiful they are beginning to put me on the edge. As you may know I am currently completing a Recruit course for the CFA. You may also know that the CFA really love their acronyms. So in the theory portion of the course there is a lot of acronyms to get used to. Also, in school, I am currently doing Game Design as an elective. This means a lot of programming, which is fun, but also means a lot of abbreviations. Seriously, where will it end?

As I was saying the CFA have a number of acronyms they love to use. For one, they have their name (CFA = Country Fire Authority) but then you also have the sub-organisations such as VFBV (Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria). They also use a lot of acronyms for equipment like BA (Breathing Apparatus). Even in the theory there is a lot to look out for like SPADRA (Safe Person Approach and Dynamic Risk Assessment), WATCHOUT (Weather, Actions, Try-out, Communicate, Hazards, Observe, Understand, Think), and LACES (I'm not even going to explain what that one is) just to name a few. In programming there is a lot of abbreviations just to make it quicker and easier to code. For example lbl (label), btn (button) and many more. Where is our English language going? We'll probably wake up one day and be speaking entirely in acronyms.

Don't ruin our English, see you tomorrow!

Accomplishment

It makes you feel warm inside and can lighten even the darkest days. It happens every so often and each time can make you feel good inside. Accomplishment is what you feel when you finish something you have been working on for such a long time and have put a lot of effort into. Of course I am writing this post about the accomplishment we felt when we finished our Science. Finally, after endless hours of work we finally felt that accomplishment we all strive for. However, sometimes completing long tasks does not give us the sense we strive for and we are left asking ourselves why. Why don't we feel that one thing we all want at the end of a long task? I really do enjoy that feeling of accomplishment and it really makes my week a whole lot better.

Image Source: http://www.doitrightremodeling.com/?attachment_id=920

Feeling that sense of accomplishment is so much better when done in groups. This way we all share the accomplishment and it becomes even more as we celebrate together. It is also magnified when the task is either hard or takes a very long time. That is why the Science timeline project gave me such a sense of accomplishment as it took such a very long time and left me working late into the night (okay, maybe 11:30 was the latest I stayed up but for me that is very late). This morning when we finally finished it was such a great feeling as it meant that I had no more work for the rest of the holidays except for the little homework tasks we get from individual subjects. That is also part of the reason I felt really good as it was the last major task I had to finish before the holidays. I do not know many things about these holidays but one thing is for sure, there will not be as much homework as there was last time. Of course I am going to finish the homework straight away so I do not have the same situation as I did last holidays even though I started in the middle of them. Also, I am very excited for King Kong on Sunday so I am sorry if my posts become a little erratic. Have a great holiday!

Don't leave Holiday homework to the last minute, see you tomorrow!

Free Periods

We have all had them and, at times, we have all enjoyed them. Of course, if you bothered to read the title, I am talking about free periods. Those rare times where the teacher says those magic five words that can send a class over the edge. Who knew what an impact "work on whatever you want" could have? It is one of those times you can really see the ethic students put into their work. I myself enjoy free periods because it either gives me time to catch up on work or relax. Of course, some students take "relax" a little too far but we'll get to that in a minute. Basically, free periods rock!
I mentioned earlier that a free period can split a class up and allow people to see the work ethic of a number of students. First you have the students who are 'frantically' trying to finish assignments or work they left to the last minute. I say 'frantically' with inverted commas because they always seem to have time to talk or, worse, criticise those around them. The next group of people are those who are not in a rush, are ahead and are just doing work now to save themselves homework in the future. This is generally the category I fall into. It's the best one not only because I'm in it but because we are not in a rush and we have time to socialise which makes it even more relaxing. The third, and almost worst, group is the one where people do nothing but chat when they know they have something important due. It annoys me because I would worry/stress a bit too much if I did that, those lucky bastards. The fourth, and most entertaining, group is the one where they take relaxing too far and end up falling asleep. I say entertaining because often they accidentally do something like fall off their chair or someone does something to them like push them off their chair. I guess I really do enjoy free periods.

Don't leave things to the last minute, see you tomorrow!

A Green School?

The school I go to claims to be a 'green' school but we all know that this is only partially true. A 'green' school is one in which little paper is used (and wasted) and things are mostly done on computers to save this paper. I will admit that our school does save a lot of paper through what we do on our laptops but there are many cases I can think of that go against this 'green' school ideal. I mean just a quick trip through some of the parts of our school would make you question it. Of course, there are lots of recycling and, more specifically, paper recycling bins around the school but there is a whole lot more paper that could be saved by my school. My school is certainly not a perfectly 'green' one.

Image Source: http://eurogrouprecycling.com/website/

The first major amount of Paper that could be saved around the school is the bits of paper that have our school values on it of "Respect, Aspiration and Contribution". You may be thinking that a few bits of paper with those words on it is no big waste of paper but I do not think you understand the extent of it. On every board around the school there are these pieces of paper on it with one value on each in large letters. Sometimes there are even two sets on the one board or an extra bit of paper nearby that has them all on it. It would save so much paper if it was just these posters everywhere around the school, four sheets of paper would be replaced by just one in all the different locations around the school. Then there are some of the worksheets we get in class which could just have easily being done on the computer with much less effort from the teacher. Of course, some of this does happen but a majority of the time it does not. So, as you can see, our school does waste a fair bit of paper and that is not even the end of it.

Image Source: http://www.thesocialleader.com/2011/03/counterproductive-compassion/

We only just received a Science assignment which is the biggest waste of paper I have ever experienced. Working in groups of 3 (there are 200 students in Year 10 and all are doing the assignment) we are to make an approximately 7 metre long timeline of the evolution of plants and animals with a scale of one centimetre for every one million years. Of course, this would be alright except on top of that it has to be in A3 paper and be three rows. That is exactly what is on the task sheet. Yeah, 3 rows of A3 paper which works out to 51 sheets of paper. That is 51 sheets per group! That is the biggest waste of paper I have known so far. They are only going to display the best from each class but due to the size the possibility of even that is slim. So all these sheets of paper are going to go back to the people who made them which, in turn, will promptly end up in the bin. What a massive waste of paper! It is the worst Science assignment ever, it would make more sense to do it all electronically but no, the Science teachers had to choose the dumbest option they could find. So, as you can see, however 'green' my school claims to be, there are many areas of improvement.

Wasting paper is wasting our future, see you tomorrow!